Cyber Security - small business guide

May 8th, 2019

Protecting your business against cyber attacks is easier than you may think. Simply apply these tips displayed in our infographic, approved by the National Cyber Security Centre at GCHQ, to your day-to-day and let prevention give you peace of mind.

Cyber Security
small business guide

Back up your data.

Schedule regular backups as part of your business as usual processes. Backups give you peace of mind that you won’t lose those important files and data in the event of a virus, fire, theft, flood or general damage. It’s equally as important to test your backed-up files regularly too and make sure they can be restored.

Review the documents you need to back up. For most businesses this includes photos, emails, calendars and contacts – all the things stored in shared folders

Use a portable back up drive. Check the device containing your back up is NOT permanently connected to the PC that stores the original files physically or across a local network

Don’t discount the Cloud. Backing up your data to the Cloud gives you access anywhere at any time. It also removes the need for storage at your business, reducing risk further

Protect your passwords.

You don’t need us to tell you how important passwords are in protecting your data, you use them daily for business as well as personal reasons, but are yours as unpredictable as you think? Protecting your passwords is just as important as the password itself.

Encrypt your laptops, Macs and PCs or use encryption products that prompt you for a password to boot. Finger recognition/PIN protection for mobile devices and phones also prevents third party access

Turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) for email and important sites such as banking or those where you have an account

Avoid personal passwords. We mean those that include names of family members, pets, holiday destinations or those that are easy to guess such as passw0rd or secr3t

Only change your passwords when you suspect they’ve been compromised. There’s no need to update them too regularly

Use a password manager tool, ensuring that the master password (used to access all your other passwords) is the strongest

Ensure you change your device passwords supplied by the manufacturer before they’re given to staff

Help staff reset their passwords securely and easily. Provide secure storage units so staff can write down and store their passwords

Keep your smartphones safe.

It’s not just desktops that need your protection, your devices do too – especially those used outside of the office, on site or during a commute.

Use fingerprint recognition/PIN password protection for all mobile devices